


Twenty-Three

by Bestboiuwu



Series: Mechanics, Monsters and Mayhem [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Kaiju, Mecha, Science Fiction, Seattle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:28:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26330395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bestboiuwu/pseuds/Bestboiuwu
Relationships: Gregory George Robinson III & Ripley Reese
Series: Mechanics, Monsters and Mayhem [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1913329
Kudos: 1





	Twenty-Three

Georgie is eight when his elementary school gets stepped on.  
It was a Saturday, thank god, and it was close enough to the water that the area had been deemed unsafe, and they were about to start evacuations anyway. That being said, it didn't stop the cocktail of emotions (terror, sadness, joy) that he felt watching the live television footage of it being crushed, and even moreso when he saw the mech take it down (awestruck, fascinated, inspired)

Georgie is twelve when he decides he wants to be a pilot. He spends years memorizing stat blocks, looking up schematics, and trying to reverse engineer the behemoths he sees on tv.

Georgie is thirteen the first time he gets into a fight with his parents about it.

Georgie spends the next several years researching. What it would take to do it, how he could learn to pilot, Where he could get the supplies. The best way, he learns, is to sign up for the school. Get into the Academy, get a job for Pattersons, start Piloting professionally. His parents don't agree. You need to keep up the family buissness, they say, you need to make good on your father's name, they say.

Georgie is fifteen when applications open.  
He's sixteen when they close.

Georgie is still sixteen when he gives up on his dreams.

Georgie is seventeen when he meets Ripley.

They're at a party, one of those painful engagements that his dad always drags him to, because he has to build a reputation, he has to look the part if he's going to take his father's buissness and his name. His suit is itchy, his voice cracks, and he keeps fiddling with his collar. His dad is distracted, talking to some other boring old men in suits, so Georgie has taken the opportunity to loom around the snack table when he sees- hey, isn't that that guy- yeah, yeah it is, that's the laser guy, they're a pilot, aren't they? He'd just read their paper, and- oh fuck they're walking away. quick. go talk to them before they leave. He tries to say words but fumbles, panics and as they're walking away he grabs their arm.  
Akward silence. Say words, idiot.  
"Uh. You’re Ripley Reese, right? Produced model 3.4 of the Lazer Project a few weeks ago?"  
They glanced over their shoulder, looking a bit worried for a second, before turning back to him and smiling.  
"That’s me! You wanna help me hunt down some water? We’ll find somewhere you can ask some questions about it, if you want!"  
The next several minutes are spent talking about lasers, after that he manages to weasel his way into talking about piloting, and Ripley seemed decently impressed with the amount of knowledge he had cribbed off of the internet and news reels for the past five years. Ripley says something along the lines of Wow if you know so much about it I can't wait to see you get out there in a couple years and Georgie gives a sad smile. He slides into his default response for these sorts of conversations, of "yeah, haha, but my dad really wants me to keep up the family business" at which point Ripley says some words that he's never heard before.  
"Yeah, but are you gonna do what your dad wants you to do or are you gonna do what you wanna do"  
He leaves with a phone number.

Georgie is eighteen when he gets into STEM college.

Georgie is twenty when he meets Lysander. Georgie is twenty-two when he realizes, Lysander = Lysander Lim, as in son of Isaac Lim, as in Lim robotics. Ripley seems to think it's very funny it took him this long.

Georgie is twenty-one when Ripley's face apparently gets exploded. They're fine, they say, it's just a nasty scar, they say, nothing else is wrong with them.

Georgie is twenty-two when Ripley starts sending him schematics. He does the best he can to decode them. Builds what he can, deconstructs what he can't. This is important to them, they say, we have to get it done now while we can, because they'll be gone soon. 

Georgie is twenty-three.


End file.
